In Pictures: DRC civilians face rebel threat

DRC(***)s military have been on the offensive against the rebels since January 2013.

Oicha, Democratic Republic of the Congo - Although the DRC's military has been on the offensive against the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) since January 2013, the group is said to have steppped up attacks on civilians in recent weeks.

Paluku Nsahangondi, director of the CRDH (Convention pour le Respect des Droits de l'Homme) rights group in Oicha, said that at least 25 people had been killed and 15 injured since October 3.

With no official statements from the ADF - or details of any negotiations between it and DRC authorities - the group, which operates in the northeast of the country, and its aims remain relatively unknown.

Some women and girls who managed to escape ADF captivity told Al Jazeera there could be as many as 600 women, some as young as nine and ten years old, being held in terrible conditions and being used as sex slaves.

Many more children, they said, were being forced to fight as unwilling foot soldiers for the group.

Massika, a 16-year-old girl who was kidnapped and held for a year before escaping, said hundreds of women were kept in holes in the ground and only taken out to be raped - or to clean and do laundry.

ADF rebels captured by DRC(***)s military, who are known as FARDC. They said they were forced to join the rebel group.

The thick jungle makes a dangerous and difficult terrain. FARDC soldiers are often ambushed.

FARDC soldiers told Al Jazeera that the fight against ADF has the potential to be bloodier than the one they fought against the better-known M23 rebel group.

Gerome Bahwere (L) and Paluku Muvuya (R), both 60-years-old, say they were kidnapped by the ADF and used to transport food and livestock stolen by the rebels during an attack on their village. FARDC found them 12 hours later.

Faro Abdul Lasvis, 18, was taken from Kenya with the promise of an education. He was forced to fight for the ADF from the age of 14. He escaped earlier this month but he is now a prisoner of the FARDC.

Families in the region worry their children may be targeted.

The grieving family of a man named Jean Pierre, believed he was kidnapped before he was found at the back of his house with machete wounds on his head and face. One more person was killed, two men were kidnapped and houses were looted during the same attack.